Expat Life in the South of France

I am an erstwhile secretary/gemmologist/beauty therapist/business owner and now freelance writer and arrived to live in France  in 2001 via Bombay/Hong Kong/Cairo/Tunbridge Wells/Hong Kong (again).

My reason for starting this blog is simple. It was set up by my son-in-law, James, an IT whizz, as a Christmas Gift from him and my daughter, with the instruction: “Write.”   

 After staring at the beautifully designed blank pages for four weeks, I decided to take the plunge. We kept telling friends and family stories of our life in France,  and decided we should have a memory bank of our experiences, and if others were interested - great.

I also got fed up of publications telling me they would like to use my material, but unfortunately “our  budget for this year is exhausted and we won’t be able to pay you!”  Those that do pay offer derisory amounts anyway.  My bank once charged me 24€ for clearing a cheque  issued in Ireland for 35€ (fee for an article) ! I thought if I was writing for free I may as well do it for myself.

So here I am…